ARUSHA Tanzania (Xinhua) -- Tanzania has called on investors to invest in the
extraction of edible oil from maize seeds to reduce importation
and address market-related challenges.

Charles Tizeba,
Tanzania’s Minister for Agriculture said that it was time for
investors to chip in and invest in maize value addition.

The call comes at
the time when maize farmers in major maize growing regions are
complaining over lack of market for maize, the country’s main
staple food.

Apart from
addressing market-related challenges, the minister said: “This
will also encourage more production of maize, meeting the
country’s industrialization agenda and averting edible oil
imports.”

According to the
minister, the east African nation spends at least 83.19 million
U.S. dollars annually on edible oil imports despite the
country’s potential to grow and produce edible oil.

Tanzania is being
ranked among the top 25 maize producing countries in the world
in the last two decades. The production of maize accounts for
more than 70 percent of the cereal produced in the east African
nation.

“Maize can also
produce oil and be marketable at local and international level.
It should not be used only for food consumption. Maize farming
is another area for investment, which if heavily invested will
have a significant impact on the country’s economy and across
the maize value chain.”